Foxy Brown (1974)

Intended as a sequel to Coffy, and originally released on the ultimate Blaxploitation double-bill with Jonathan Kaplan’s Truck Turner, Foxy Brown finds Pam Grier expanding on her previous tough-as-nails performances to embody the titular role of the “whole-lotta-woman” heroine of this gritty revenge flick. With its funkadelic score from Motown Records singer-songwriter Willie Hutch and costumes by Jackson 5 stylist Ruthie West, writer-director Jack Hill’s final collaboration with Grier—at the time of its release a huge financial success—cemented the actress’s legacy as one of the first-ever action movie heroines.

Coffy (1973)

Following a string of highly popular women in prison films in the early 1970s, writer-director Jack Hill shifted deftly into the Blaxploitation genre for American International Pictures—one of the first indie production companies to utilize focus groups. Attempting to appeal to a diverse urban audience, Hill cast the sensational Pam Grier in a star-making role as Nurse “Coffy” Coffin, “the baddest one-chick hit-squad that ever hit town.” Focusing on a no-nonsense leading lady—a watershed moment for the male-driven genre—allowed for new narratives heretofore unrepresented anywhere on the big screen, including nuanced portrayals of the still-marginalized African-American experience.